March is HERE.
The Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour is officially two stages in, meanwhile the Bassmaster Elite Tour is in the midst of its own second stage at Lake Fork. And they’re putting together some MASSIVE bags down in Texas.
Up here in Wisconsin where I live, the ice melted this week on my home lake, much sooner that expected. Aside from the very northern portions of the country, bass fishing is going strong, and the patterns are going to be all over the board depending on where you live.
Up here and around the Great Lakes, bass will still be in the winter patterns with water temperatures below 45 degrees, but as you move further south towards the Gulf, we’ll see fish in both pre-spawn, and spawning stages. And for some of you, you’ll be fishing pre-spawn at the beginning of the month, and the bass will be on beds by the end of it.
So without further ado, let’s take a look at some of the top bass lures that’ll play around the country, for the month of March
Chatterbait
Chatterbait always plays, right? A vibrating jig is a pre-spawn staple that can be thrown in a number of different scenarios. And with most of the country either in, or moving towards, the pre-spawn, the Chatterbait is gonna be a workhorse for the next few months. I recently wrote a whole guide to Chatterbait fishing HERE, but we all know that the Z-Man Evergreen Jackhammer is the pinnacle of vibrating jigs.
And the new EVO is pretty cool…
Z-Man Chatterbait Elite EVO – 1/2 oz.
Colors: Bluegill, Electric Shad, Black & Blue
Trailer: Hog Farmer Spunk Shad, Rapala Crush City Freeloader
Lipless
A lipless crankbait is great this time of year, especially if you’re on a lake where some grass is present. In the beginning of the month, I like to yo-yo my retrieve near that grass line, moving rather slowly with the retrieve, but as the water warms up, I’ll start to rip it across the top of a shallow-water grass flat.
Jackall TN Lipless Crankbaits – 1/2 oz.
Colors: SG Threadfin, Craw Fish
Strike King Red Eye Shad – 1/2 oz.
Colors: Sexy Shad, Chili Craw
Jerkbait
The most common approach to jerkbait fishing it to utilize the standard “jerk, jerk, pause” rhythm, and the colder the water, the longer you’re gonna want to pause it. I like to use a baitcaster, but plenty of anglers will throw them on a spinning rod with 10 or 12 pound fluorocarbon.
Colors: Elegy Bone, GG Megabass Kinkuro
Colors: Northern Lights, Table Rock, Hankie Pankie
Flat-Sided Crankbait
There are so many different kinds of crankbaits, that you can probably be throwing them every month of the year, but right now, I like to lean towards a flat-sided crankbait.
Colors: Red Crawdad, Copper Green Shad
Colors: Spring Craw, Midnight Pearl
Jighead Minnow
The most popular technique in bass fishing right now, and perhaps the most controversial. There’s a few different ways to fish the bait… hover-strolling, or mid-strolling, or as Jacob Wheeler would say, “the shake and bake,” but it’s relatively simple. However, it does require Forward Facing Sonar to be the most effective. Can you use it without FFS? Absolutely. All you need is a jighead, preferably with a 90-degree line tie, and your favorite minnow-style soft plastic.
Colors: Gizzard Shad, Tennessee Shad, Albino Shad
Colors: Minnow Juice, 4K Shad, Ghost Minnow
MLF Bass Pro Tour fisherman Jacob Wheeler just won at Santee Cooper on this technique, and he’ll show you exactly how it works:
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